


Everything I can't remember

by nunu_noodles



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Cemeteries, Ghosts, Halloween Spooky Fic, M/M, Mental Coersion, Vampires, Water Sprites, partial drowning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:42:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26958256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nunu_noodles/pseuds/nunu_noodles
Summary: Wooyoung's brother is sick, really sick. Supernaturally sick.There's only one more option available to fix him: Visiting The Graveyard.
Relationships: Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25
Collections: All Hallows ATEEZ Exchange





	Everything I can't remember

**Author's Note:**

  * For [climbingvines](https://archiveofourown.org/users/climbingvines/gifts).



> Hiya!   
> This is my pinchhit for this lovely Collection! It's always difficult to tell how 'spooky' people will want a story to be for a halloween fic, but considering the prompt I leant more toward properly spooky - this is your warning!   
> Have a great time :)

"Are you even listening to me?"

Wooyoung's head snaps up to meet his coworker's irritated glare. "Sorry, something about the second trolley?"

Hoseok sighs, eyes softening. "To the front of the store, yes. Put them in the window display, okay?" Wooyoung nods diffidently and moves to pull the trolley close, but Hoseok intercepts him. A damp hand touches the bare skin of Wooyoung's wrist, and Wooyoung barely restrains himself from flinching. "Is everything okay?"

Wooyoung musters a thin lipped smile. "It's okay, (it's not), just. My little brother. He's sick and I'm a bit worried about him."

Hoseok makes a concerned noise. "How sick?" He steps closer and Wooyoung steps back warily. He personally adores physical touch, but Hoseok always looks as though he's just run through a rain shower; he's always damp and sticky, hair spiked with moisture. One time he came in and his shoes squelched with every step. Wooyoung doesn't like to touch Hoseok, doesn't like to look him in his blurry watery eyes too often if he can help it.

"Just, you know. Sick."

"Poor brother," Hoseok pouts in sympathy, mouth pursed in a tiny moue. His eyes glitter and sharpen. "Did you want me to come help you take care of him?"

The question is innocent enough. Wooyoung shouldn't be worried. Nonetheless, a slither of unease climbs his spine with intent. "It's fine, I'll figure something out," He tugs the trolley out of Hoseok's grasp and pulls it along behind him to the front of the store, ready to remake the window display.

The thing is.

Wooyoung does actually need help.

Jongho has been asleep. And by asleep he doesn't mean a three day fae-pollen bender followed by sleeping like the dead, he means Jongho has been still as the grave. Pale, cold to the touch, unmoving.

It's been two weeks.

Jongho isn't the type to mix with the various supernatural creatures that have popped up in town over the last decade, that's never been his jam. And after seeing one too many friends succumb to various potions and elixirs the unseelie folk have unleashed upon unsuspecting victims, the two step brothers had vowed to never take the chance.

So why was Jongho sleeping? Their other two flat-mates were getting worried (scared). Last night Wooyoung had gotten home from work and found one of them sprinkling Jongho with holy water.

Just to be sure, he'd said.

When he called the doctors, they said to bring him in. When Wooyoung told them he couldn't wake him up, they told him to ring the ambulance.

But it doesn't seem right to do that. He's not in pain, he's not injured. He's just. Not waking up. If he's waiting for true love's kiss Wooyoung won't be able to help because as far as he knows Jongho isn't in love with anyone.

Wooyoung stacks the pretty books in towers to make them look like a city skyline, as is fitting for a book about architecture. His mind wanders to the distant tones of Hoseok serving customers at the counter.

He thinks he needs help. Supernatural help. There's something wrong with his brother and it isn't natural, at least not for a human. He needs to find someone Supernatural, and see if they can refer him to someone useful.

His eyes slide to Hoseok unwillingly.

Hoseok has always made him... nervous. His fight or flight response is triggered every time they have a shift together and it leaves him exhausted afterwards, crashing into his bed and unable to drag himself to the shower to wash off the dried nervous sweat that coats his body every time.

The evidence:

  1. Makes Wooyoung nervous in a heeby-jeeby way.



  1. Always wet. Why would a human always be wet?



  1. Never works the day shift.



  1. His teeth seem too sharp, sometimes.



  1. Sometimes smells like the dead carcasses his dog used to find when out wandering.



That fourth one is probably his imagination, he can admit he has a dramatic demeanor. Regardless of the sharpness of Hoseok's teeth, he can probably point Wooyoung in the right direction.

He tugs the trolley through the store and leaves it in the stockroom, then heads back to the counter where Hoseok is standing, not even pretending to do any of the jobs their manager left on the list before he left for the day.

"Hey, Hoseok?"

Hoseok turns slowly. He grins. His maybe or maybe not sharp teeth glint under the painfully vivid light. "Yes?"

"Can I.. can I ask you a potentially sensitive question?"

"Ohh, sure!" Hoseok shuffles closer as if Wooyoung is about to ask him something secretive. He supposes it is technically secretive. "Lemme have it, I'm ready."

"I was wondering.. well. You see. The thing is, about Jongho..."

"Your sick brother?"

"Yeah, it's about him."

"Oh. Does he... does he need a job? We can't hire siblings, Wooyoung, you know that."

"No no, nothing like that, oh man. I just. I think he might need help. Um." He stutters when Hoseok opens his mouth to reply, a frown etched across his clammy features. "He might need help of the…  _ supernatural  _ variety. Am I right in assuming you might know something about that, or am I offending you in some way?”

Hoseok gasps, placing a delicate hand against his collarbone in faux outrage. “Are you implying it’s offensive to be labelled supernatural! Well I never!!”

Wooyoung scrambles to assure him that’s not the case. “I’m just not sure what the protocol is about like.. Asking people or if you’re comfortable talking about it or - “ He frowns. “Stop laughing! I’m trying my best!”

Hoseok unbends himself and calms his face as best he can. “Okay, okay. Yes, I’m supernatural. What’s wrong with your brother. Jongguk?”

“Jongho. His name is Jongho. He’s been sleeping a lot.”

“Well he’s a growing boy,”

“It’s been two weeks.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I think I need..” Inexplicably, tears start prickling at his eyes. “I need help.”

“Hey, heeeey,” Hoseok steps in and wraps comforting arms around him, shushing him in a soothing manner. He smells like a rancid pond up this close and Wooyoung struggles not to gag, mentally recoiling from the clamminess pressed tight against his body. “I can fix this, okay? Don’t worry.”

“Really? You know someone?”

“Of course I know someone. I know exactly where to go.”

  
  
  
  
  


“So where exactly are we going?”

Their shift finished about 40 minutes ago and Hoseok had closed up quicker than Wooyoung had ever witnessed. He seems very eager to help Wooyoung with his problem and he’s very grateful, but…

Wooyoung doesn’t know where they are anymore.

“If you want to find the creepy people, you have to go to the creepy places,” Hoseok answers cheerfully when asked, power walking at a rate that has Wooyoung stumbling to catch up. The night air is crisp against the thin protection of his hoodie and his beanie isn’t doing much to protect his ears, but it’s not like he’d prepared for a bus ride into the opposite direction of civilisation, and it’s too late to say they can do it tomorrow night.

“I live out here, it’s lovely isn’t it?” Hoseok asks, tilts his head back to gaze up at the night sky. This far from town the stars can peek out more clearly

“Do the buses run back to town this late?” Wooyoung asks warily. They haven’t passed a house with lights on for a while. There’s no traffic.

Hoseok flaps his hand blithely. “You can stay at mine.”

Wooyoung will most definitely fork out for a taxi.

“So, once we get to the graveyard -”

“Wait, what. We’re going to a graveyard?” Wooyoung grinds to a halt. “Do you mean The Graveyard?”

Hoseok chortles merrily, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Where else did you think we’d go to find someone supernatural?”

Well. A nice city Witch would’ve been nice, but it’s not like he has the privilege of having a choice. There’s a few hot pockets of paranormal and supernatural activity that have popped up in their town since they were Outed about a decade ago.

The one with the worst reputation is The Graveyard. Not the new cemetery, with its shiny plaques and visitors every day, but the old neglected one outside of town. Wooyoung can’t believe he didn’t put two and two together earlier. There are ghosts there,  _ actual  _ real ghosts. People go missing at the Old Graveyard. People don’t come out.

“I shouldn’t go in there. Am I waiting for you outside while you go find them?”

“Your quest, you’ve got to ask.” He tugs Wooyoung along with a hand that drips. “Don’t worry about it, you’re with me. No ones going to bug you.”

They turn a bend and Wooyoung can almost feel a palpable difference in the air. A heaviness that wasn’t there before. He shivers and Hoseok grins. “Lots of spirits around this cemetery. You get used to it.”

“You live around here?”

“Yup.” Wow.

The vegetation grows dense along the side of the road.

“So before we get there, I have a few rules you should follow once we’re inside. They’re pretty important for humans, I think.”

“Is it like there’s banned areas?”

“Something like that.” He drifts closer to Wooyoung and water splashes Wooyoung’s shoes. Hoseok has grown somehow more wet than before, as though he has his own fountain burbling up under his shirt.

With wet cold lips and a dank miasma emanating from him, he leans in and imparts his rules.

They’re very scary rules. Not so much banned areas. More like things that will scare Wooyoung’s hair all the way to white if he doesn’t follow them. If he’d heard the rules back at the bookstore he wouldn’t have followed Hoseok out here, to all this.

“Are you sure it’ll be okay?”

“It’ll be fine!” Hoseok chuckles. “They’re more of a cautionary system anyway - there’s nothing to say any of that will happen. Okay? And you need to help your brother.”

“Right.” Jongho.

The entrance to the cemetery rises up before them, all dark and metal, looming somehow despite the old trees that crowd it, fighting for space.

A movement from the other side catches Wooyoung’s attention; someone is sitting on the opposite concrete fence, swinging their leg slowly, watching them. They’re of slim build, pale skinned and pale haired. A huge bomber jacket envelops their torso, as though the cold is affecting them more than they’d like to admit.

The person watches them approach with a cocked head and sharp eyes.

Hoseok tugs Wooyoung closer. Wooyoung’s skin crawls. Hoseok leans in and whispers softly, “Be careful, he’s bad news.”

No kidding.

The guy observes them quietly as Hoseok and Wooyoung hurry through the entrance, glaring a little at Hoseok’s nervous chuckle.

They’re almost through when a voice halts them. “Whatever money he offered you, it’s not worth it.”

Wooyoung’s fear sings. He turns. “I don’t have a choice.” He answers, despite his best efforts to keep his mouth shut. Hoseok tugs on his arm.

“Stay on the path.” The guy says. Hoseok glowers at him then tugs more forcefully, dragging Wooyoung along and soaking his sleeve in equal measure. The wind cuts through the damp material and Wooyoung shivers, looking around despite himself.

It’s late at night so it’s dark, and it’s an abandoned cemetery on the outskirts of town. There’s no glow of nearby houses, no lights from the road, nothing. Everything is that strange dark blue that almost glows with how dark it is. Pale gravestones carve themselves out of the darkness along the middle path, stretching out in either direction like rows of teeth.

Trees hover along the fence line, swaying and quivering with every gust of wind, teasing him to look closer.

_ Rule number One: If it’s dark, don’t shine your flashlight into the trees. _ Well it is dark, but Wooyoung had not planned for this excursion. He does not have a flashlight. He’s not even wearing walking shoes. His leather work boots remind him of this fact with every pinch.

If he’d been considering using his phone as a flashlight, he definitely isn’t now.

He looks away from the trees.

“Psssst!” A voice calls. He and Hoseok both look over. They can’t see anyone in the gloom so it’s hard to tell where it comes from. “Come over here!” The words aren’t rounded right, like there’s something wrong with their mouth.

“Go away.” Hoseok says firmly. “We’re not here for you.”

“They might need help…?” Wooyoung offers. Imagine getting lost in here and not being able to find your way out. That’d be terrifying.

He watches as fingers curl over the top of a larger gravestone. They’re long, too long. Too Other.

“They don’t need help, they just want an easy dinner, come on.” Fear freezes Wooyoung’s limbs but Hoseok is unerring in his focus, pulling him along the path.

The wind picks up. “Okay.” The damp man breathes. “Just.. Ignore the wind, right?”

Wooyoung blinks. “Sure?” They head forward around another bend. The wind roars in his ears, and with it comes a dread so all encompassing he can feel himself curl over in fear, wanting to hide from whatever is coming.

_ “... Is there something burning…? Where’s the baby..?” _ His head turns to catch the voice, but it’s already gone, taking with it the flash of racing through an apartment, frantic,  _ “He’s home too early!!” _ Terror bursts in his chest. The fear he feels, he can almost see a kitchen with dainty curtains, the dinner still being prepped. The man looming in the doorway, displeased.  _ “I’m falling…?” _ The ground rising up to meet him out of nowhere.  _ “I’m so hungry, mother said she’d be back soon but it’s been days… maybe this water will be fine, it’s only a little green…” _

Wooyoung gags.

“You’re feeling it aren’t you?” Hoseok murmurs. Somehow, Wooyoung is still moving, stumbling along the path. “Just keep going.”

_ Rule number Two: You may feel the occasional burst of dread and terror, ignore them and keep walking, they are not your memories. _

Finally the thoughts recede, leaving him weak, nauseous, exhausted. He wants to stop for a break, and says as much.

“No.” Hoseok answers, “can’t stop here.” The moon reflects strangely on Hoseok’s skin, giving him a green hue. He smiles in comfort - are his teeth longer? - and tries to tug Wooyoung along again.

“I need a moment.” Wooyoung insists. Then freezes.

A warm breath tickles the back of his neck. His eyes widen. The breath happens again, harsh and panting.

_ Rule number Three: If you walk down a long straight path, you will feel someone behind you - don’t look. _

“Okay we can go!” He squeaks, refusing to ease his curiosity by turning around. Hoseok seems unbothered, just unnecessarily eager to get to the person who is supposed to help them. Wooyoung feels a pang of sympathy for the weird guy; these might be his people but Wooyoung can imagine it’s not comfortable living near a creepy cemetery where the inhabitants are all looking to eat humans or scare the crap out of people. It seems like a harsh way to live, and Hoseok’s clearly trying his best to be out in society, working at the bookstore and everything.

He shouldn’t be so irked by Hoseok wanting to rush, probably just wants to go to bed.

Another fork in the road. Hoseok takes them down the right fork, closer towards the trees.

“Mister.” A small child stands in the middle of the path. Hoseok curses under his breath. “Mister, who you looking for?” She stands brazenly, head cocked to the side. Her dress is in tatters. It’s so dark he can’t see the colours at all.

He nearly answers her, but remembers at the last second: Rule number Seven: If someone approaches and asks you a question, absolutely do not tell the truth. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?” He asks instead.

She grins and her teeth are black. “Why, you offering to put me there??” Her black eyes promise violence.

“We’re just going for a stroll.” He says mildly.

“Move off the path.” Hoseok says firmly.

“Just walk around me.”

“I don’t think so.”

She crosses her arms across her chest. “Let me play with your friend,”

“No.”

Wooyoung watches the interaction with some trepidation. They seem to know each other (and not like each other). “We can just go around.” He offers. “She was there first.”

Hoseok bites his lip. “I don’t like it.”

“Don’t be a crybaby!” She calls out mockingly. “Be a big boy and walk around.”

“Can we go another way?” Wooyoung asks. His eyes dart to the sides, looking for another path. Too many things shift in the gloom for him to be comfortable.

“We need to get through the trees,” Hoseok says. He raises his voice. “Just move over for two seconds.”

“Fuck you!” She calls out merrily, then laughs shrilly. “I said a bad word, come punish me?”

“Why can’t we just scoot past her?” Wooyoung whispers.

“She’s got big teeth and you’ve got soft skin.”

Wooyoung shivers. “Okay you’ve convinced me.”

They step off the path. The grass whispers under their shoes as they walk about two meters out from the path, right up alongside the gravestones, then start progressing forward again, watching her carefully. She watches them right back, grinning, swaying her dress with her little hands. A gust of wind catches Wooyoung off guard and he flinches away, reaching his hand back quickly. “Sorry, caught me by surprise.” But it doesn’t catch Hoseok.

He turns.

He turns again.

“Hoseok…?” He calls quietly. There’s darkness all around.

The girl is gone.

Hoseok is gone.

Terror claws up his throat. “Oh no.” He whimpers. He looks behind the nearest gravestone in case Hoseok is one of those sicko assholes that picks the worst time to play a prank.

He isn’t.

The letters on the stone blur and shift.  _ Rule number Four: Don’t read the hidden graves. _

Wooyoung moans in dread and scampers straight back onto the path, letting his scared tears escape.

What should he do?

Jongho is waiting. He has to keep going.

He looks ahead. Through the trees. They were going to go through the trees. He strides forward with false confidence, hoping beyond hope that Hoseok will be waiting for him. The other man is creepy and weird and smells funny and makes his skin crawl but he’s better than being alone here in this place. He was a hand to hold, albeit a clammy one.

Once he gets under the canopy it gets colder and darker.

“I need help.”

He almost cries out in fright, whirling towards the side of the trees he’s just entered. “Please sir.” The voice continues.

Wooyoung’s always been a sucker for being helpful.

“What do you need help with?” He asks before he can stop himself.

A woman steps out of the gloom. She seems… normal? Wet. She looks drenched. Water pools at her feet as if she’d fallen into a lake. Her hair is still dripping but she’s wearing neon pink activewear and glowing white sneakers. “I was taking the shortcut through the cemetery and it got dark. I didn’t realise there was a pond…? My bike is stuck,”

“You should go home,” Wooyoung is firm about it, “you should come and get it tomorrow.” How can she stand being in here? Isn’t she terrified?

She whimpers softly, shifts to her other foot. “I can’t go home. My boyfriend, he saved all year to buy me that bike, he’ll kill me if I turn up at home without it.” Her helmet slumps to the side.

Well, fuck.

“We can’t have that, I suppose.”

The air gets colder as he follows her into the denser growth. The headstones that once filled the grass like ants at a picnic now become sporadic and wonky, as if the tree roots have started ousting them from the soil.

After a minute or two he hears water. He trails along behind her steady pace, watching her sodden ponytail sway from side to side in a limp fashion. Her arms are bare. Bike riding in the dark without something warm on…?

Surely she can’t be one of them. She’s wearing a bike helmet.

They reach a pond.

There’s no fathomable way she could have been biking past this and fallen in by accident; for starters there’s only one path he can see in the darkness, and that goes straight towards the water.

But there is a bike. A few strides in, wheel idling sadly up in the air like an upended ladybird.

She stands at the water’s edge and looks decidedly sad. “Are you going to help?”

“Is it stuck on something?” He asks. Because it doesn’t look hard to get out.

“I think so.” She doesn’t make any more moves towards the water.

I guess that part is for me, he thinks sourly. The ground around the pond is damp and thick with water plants that have never met a gardener. Small bugs whizz around him, stinging his skin as he gets closer to the water that gives them life.

He is going to have the longest shower when he gets home.

The first step in is an unpleasant one. The ground underneath his leather shoe is squidgy and oozes, his sock is immediately soaked with water. “Ugh.” He turns to look at her. She watches him, dripping from the side-lines.

Two more steps in and he’s regretting his existence. Maybe Jongho would wake up if he just hit him really hard (again), maybe he could try one of the many churches that dot the town like the face of a pimply teenager.

The water goes up to his knees. He grimaces in disgust and hopes there’s nothing terrifying in the water. It’s inky black and smells weird and freezes him everywhere it touches. His muscles ache instantly.

Oh no, is there something terrifying in the water?

He closes his mind off to that possibility

Once he reaches it the bike looks… sleek. Oily. He grabs at the wheel and yanks it hard. It moves reluctantly. It’s only once he tries to readjust his grip that he comes across a problem. “Uhh.” He calls out. “My hand is stuck?”

“Oh?” She steps closer. Her mouth quirks up.

“I.” He yanks hard but it feels as if the oil has stuck to him, pulling him fast. Like an idiot, he reaches down to catch a hold of the metal frame, hoping to pull himself free. Though submerged in the water it has the same tacky oily feeling.

Both his hands are stuck.

“Is this some kind of pran-” He manages to ask before a pair of cold hands clench down on his shoulder and yank him down into the water.

He gasps from the shock and regrets it immediately, tries to slosh wildly out of the grasp of whatever has him but the hands are coated in the same repulsive substance. Everywhere they touch him they stick fast. His lungs burn as he fights to get his feet back under him but there must have been a dip in the ground because the water feels deeper somehow.

Whatever it is that has him.. It wants to keep him down there.

Blindly, he reaches out with his now freed hands and tries to find the body attached, fighting against every instinct that tells him to breathe in the dark oily water and bring him closer to his own demise. Murky shapes resolve in the smudgy black into something more humanoid, a face pulling closer.

Sharp, sharp teeth. He jerks his face out of the way, beating uselessly at the creature’s chest and arms, feeling the resistance of the water turning his blows to mere glances. Stars burst behind his eyes, distracting him.

Noises break through the water. Screaming.

His head breaks the surface just as something long and hard is swung at his assailant. The hands let go. Wooyoung gasps in a shocked lungful of air and pats weakly at the water, trying to get away. His entire body feels like lead.

Another hand grabs him. He cries out weakly, pushing away, but the hands persevere, dragging him closer to the water’s edge.

“Got here just in time.” A voice says, low and calm. Wooyoung blinks up with water thick eyes, bedraggled and confused.

“What?” He asks. His hands are so cold they feel numb. He can barely feel them as he pulls his way up the grass away from the water. Everything is so cold.

“Here.” The voice says, and warmth envelopes him as a jacket gets draped over his shoulders. “We need to get you out of here. It’s not safe for humans.”

“I c-can’t,” Wooyoung shivers. Shudders wrack his body. “My friend is supposed to take me to someone.”

“That friend?” Wooyung looks up and finds the man from the entrance looking down at him with a cocked eyebrow. This close he looks even more elfin than before. Sharp but somehow delicately featured, beautiful. He’s pointing back toward the pond.

Wooyoung looks. Lying face down in the water.. Is Hoseok. He gasps. “What happened..?”

“You went into the cemetery with a water sprite, it caught you with it’s kelpie.” The stranger grins and raises his eyebrows. He tosses a large plank of wood to the ground. “He was going to eat you. Don’t you have any survival instincts?” It hurts despite the shock. He's known Hoseok for months, and he was just going to... eat him? Wooyoung looks further over and finds the bike helmet girl, also on the ground, a pale smudge against the forest floor. “You’re going to get hypothermia, we need to get you somewhere warm.”

“There’s no buses.” Wooyoung stutters, but the stranger just tuts like he’s a fool for even mentioning it.

“I’ll drive you. Come on.” With surprising strength from his slim frame, he yanks Wooyoung up to standing position. He clucks his tongue disapprovingly. “You look like a nice person, did he promise you fae powder? They don’t deal that from the cemetery, you know.”

Wooyoung shakes his head miserably. “My brother’s sick. He’s been asleep for two weeks. Hoseok said he knew someone that could help.”

“Oldest trick in the book. Come on, this way to the carpark,”

Wooyoung eyes the paths warily. He slows to a stop until the stranger looks at him. “Will we be safe?”

“No one will go near me, trust me.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Because I know someone that can help you.”

“That’s what he said!!” Wooyoung yells, then whips his head around, worried he’s attracted some other terrifying entity.

“I told you they’ll keep their distance with me here. Come on, we’ll go to the car, you can use my phone to call whoever you want and tell them my number plate or something, whatever you humans do.”

Wooyoung eyes him unsurely. “I didn’t realise you’d have a phone.”

The stranger sorts. “Well you don’t anymore, do you.” Wooyoung watches incredulously as the guy pulls his phone out and disconnects the headphones he'd had attached, turning off whatever music he'd been listening to before he decided to wander along and save Wooyoung's life. _ Rule number five: Don't listen to music, this will distract you from Them. _

Dread fills his stomach. He grasps clumsily for his pocket and wiggles his phone out. Dead. “Fuck.”

“Come on, I’m hungry.”

“Are you going to eat me?” Wooyoung asks sullenly, but follows the man’s steps, more closely than he would have had it been day time and literally anywhere else in the world.

“Do I look like a sprite?”

“Kind of.”

He’s levelled with an unimpressed glare. “I’m not a sprite.”

“What are you then?”

He smiles, sharp canines glinting. “That’s not polite to ask.”

“All my polite fell out in the last wash cycle,” Wooyoung snarks, feeling exhausted. His throat feels sore and gross from the water he’d inhaled, his body feels bruised all over from Hoseok’s hands, and thrashing against the bike. “Are you a vampire?” Those teeth.

“I don’t drink blood. Promise.”

They reach the carpark faster than Wooyoung would have realised possible. Hoseok must have led him through the longest way. This entrance is a lot bigger and grandiose, with a huge concrete archway and metal fretwork.

There’s only one car in the carpark. It’s small and understated, but looks nice. Shiny under the streetlight.

“What’s your name?” Wooyoung asks.

“My name is Yeosang.” He smiles again.

“Nice to meet you, Yeosang, I’m Wooyoung.” They greet each other formally. Yeosang holds out his hand and they shake, bowing their heads.

Instantly, Wooyoung's body warms and his exhaustion fades, replaced by calm and peace. “Are you feeling better?” Yeosang asks casually. “Once we’re in the car and you’re warm you’ll feel better.”

“Really?” Wooyoung blinks dizzily. “I already feel much better.”

“That’s so good.” Yeosang answers. “Here, pop into the passenger seat.” He leads Wooyung into the front seat and closes the door behind him. Once his hand is gone Wooyoung feels the panic creeping back over what has just happened. He’s gotten into the car with this.. With this Someone Supernatural. He needs to use Yeosang’s phone to call his flatmates.

Yeosang jumps into the car and buckles up, flashing Wooyoung a reassuring smile. “I’ll take you to my friend. EIther your brother is in a fae sleep, or he’s broken a geas and is being punished.”

Across the console, Yeosang reaches out his hand again. It shakes a little but he smiles reassuringly once again. Wooyoung takes it and the fear immediately fades.

Everything fades a little.

The edges of his senses blur as Yeosang expertly maneuvers them out of the carpark and onto the road.

“We’ll have to hire a new worker.” He says. His mouth feels clumsy.

“Don’t worry about work.”

“Oh.” Wooyoung says. That’s fair. Don’t worry about work, don’t worry about Hoseok’s head face-down in the water. Panic bubbles up.

The fear drains again, like the plug has been pulled from underneath him. Yeosang’s cheeks look a lot pinker now. Must be from the warmth.

Yeosang doesn’t drive him home. In fact, Wooyoung isn’t sure where they’re going. He can’t bring himself to care though. Must be the shock?

It’s kind of peaceful.

“I feel so peaceful.” He says. Yeosang hums in agreement. His thumb strokes Wooyoung’s skin in comfort.

They reach the city, which Wooyoung knows should have taken a while but somehow only felt like a short time. Yeosang drives up to a private car park and takes his hand away to curl the car around the corners smoothly.

Wooyoung feels a tremor of nerves thrum through him like a violin, “So who are we seeing?”

“This is where I live, and my friend Seonghwa should be able to help you find who’s done this to your brother. Then he can fix it, and you can move on with your life. It’s all working out, right?”

“I guess,” Wooyoung looks out the window. They pass rows of expensive looking cars. “How will your friend know who it was?”

“Seonghwa is the Master of Vampires in this city.” Yeosang explains. “He leads the seethe, he’ll know who has had a drama with a human, if that’s what it is.”

“Jongho would never take fae drugs.” Wooyoung asserts firmly. “If it’s only two options, and that one’s out as well, then..”

“Then he must have gotten mixed up with a bite-happy Vampire. He been wearing long sleeves lately?”

Wooyoung casts his mind back. “I don’t know.” He admits. Yeosang parks and they get out of the car, heading straight for the elevator.

“Don't worry about it.” He says, and holds Wooyung’s hand again.

The worry fades out, and so do the nerves that should be present, considering he’s about to meet a Master Vampire, whatever that means. It’s been a long night and his brain is completely fried. Every step feels like lead as Yeosang guides him into the elevator, then out of the elevator, then down a myriad of corridors. Somewhere, music is thumping, which Yeosang explains is from the neighbouring club. The Vampire seethe owns it.

That should be alarming. Do they feed on the club goers?

The threads of worry are too hard to catch. Every time he grasps at them they squirm out of his reach, shy and reluctant to be stared at and examined.

Yeosang knocks on a door, and they are given entry.

“Yeosang!” A tall man announces, all dark haired and dark eyed and pale skinned, the quintessential vampire. He’s impeccably gorgeous.

"What brings you to my office? You're normally lurking down in the club or by that cemetery, watching out for young fools daring each other to creep a toe in."

"I have a friend who needs some help, and I think you can provide it." Yeosang says, stepping forward and tugging Wooyoung with him. "I met him today, trying to find someone to help his brother, who has been asleep for 2 weeks."

The vampire pouts sympathetically, his perfect eyebrows furrowing as he nods. He steps out from behind his large oak desk to lean against the front of it, offering a hand in condolence.

Yeosang steps back. "Do you have some spare clothes, Wooyoung is wet, and cold."

Oh, he is. He'd forgotten, somehow. Now that Yeosang has pointed it out, Wooyoung realises how uncomfortable his work pants are, the furry wetness of his socks, the damp wet heat of his shirt contained underneath Yeosang's jacket. His teeth immediately start chattering.

Seonghwa lifts his phone and murmurs to someone on the other end. He smiles magnanimously afterwards. "Clothes are on their way, dare questing adventurer. Tell me how I can be of service."

Wooyoung relays the information as best he can, pausing every so often when Seonghwa asks a question about his brother's habits recently, asking after the company he'd kept. He's embarrassed to admit he doesn't really know. He's been wrapped up in working and sleeping, hanging out with his own friends. It's irritating a lot of the time to have his little brother there all the time, trying to encroach on his life. He loves him, but... he hasn't given him the attention he deserves.

A quiet woman enters the room and gives him a neatly folded stack of clothing. There's no polite way to ask for a bathroom to change in while Seonghwa puzzles over the situation, so he stares at Yeosang and waits for him to realise his dilemma.

Yeosang sends back a bemused smile. "Just change here, Seonghwa won't mind." Wooyoung feels his face go red with embarrassment. There's underwear here, he can't just -

Yeosang reaches out and caresses his cheek, "soft," he murmurs quietly. His cheeks flush with warmth. "You're so pretty, Wooyoung,"

Wooyoung gets changed in the office. Somehow, his modesty seems to slip away from him. He can't quite remember why it would be an issue to be naked in the room with the two others, and Yeosang says it's fine. He wouldn't lie, would he? He's been so nice so far, saving him from Hoseok (he shudders a little until Yeosang runs a comforting finger down his spine), and now helping them find the culprit.

"Are you taking care of this one, then?" Seonghwa asks while Wooyoung busies himself folding his soiled clothing into a little pile. He doesn't know what else to do with it.

"Of course, of course. I couldn't just leave him to be eaten, could I? Look how sweet he is." Wooyoung looks at Seoyang and smiles warmly. People rarely call him sweet anymore and he secretly loves it. "See? So sweet. We're going to have a lot of fun together. I like him."

Seonghwa's phone rings. He answers it, speaks for a while, so quietly that Wooyoung can't hope to catch it.

"What time is it?" Wooyoung asks. He's tired again, so tired. It's getting worse, but he's been awake since 6am and it makes sense that his fatigue would feel like a physical weight urging him to find a bed. He feels himself list to the side. Everything feels heavy. Yeosang looks fine, in fact he looks amazing. The white chalky skin of first sight has vanished, leaving him flushed and sparkling. It must be the lighting - he looks vibrant.

Wooyoung yawns.

"Not too late." Yeosang murmurs. "We'll get you to bed soon. Just want to sort out your brother."

Right, his brother.

Seonghwa gets off the phone. "So, we're right. Your brother, Jongho? Jongho has been consorting with one of the more junior vampires. Too many bites within too small a time frame and he became addicted to the venom. Our young vampire Hongjoong tried to abstain but Jongho became frantic, to the point where he started approaching other vampires. Hongjoong placed a geas upon him, an oath that he would wait until the venom cleared his system.

He broke the oath, and so is in a forced healing sleep, to keep him safe."

Seonghwa beams at him.

"Uh. Well . It would have been nice if someone had told us that."

Seonghwa blinks. Inexplicably he flusters, flapping his hand and hiding his now pink ears. "Ah, you're right! We haven't had to deal with it since I took over, I suppose the correct protocols haven't been put into place yet! Never you mind it, I'll write it down right now and make sure we have a procedure in place next time to alert the.. the nearby humans. Yes." He leans dramatically over his desk and starts scribbling frantically on a piece of paper. "Yes, yes. Telling humans things, I see!"

"Hear that? It's all being fixed!" Yeosang exclaims. He beams a smile at him that's all teeth. They shine in the light, sharp and glinting.

Is he sure he's not a vampire?

"That's so good," Wooyoung says, and even to himself it sounds distant. He doesn't know why but it's hard to feel worried about it anymore. Maybe because it's being fixed.

He just wants to sleep. "I've got work tomorrow," He says. "I should go home."

Yeosang slides his hand back into Wooyoung's grasp. Squeezes.

"Don't work about work." He whispers, standing closer. Were his eyes always this vibrant?

Again, the small hint of worry recedes into the outskirts of Wooyoung's mind. "But I have to pay rent?" He says faintly. Rents important. Isn't it...?

"You can just stay here with me."

"You live here? With the vampires?"

"Yes I live here, Seonghwa is my master."

"You said you don't suck blood."

"I don't drink blood. I vow it." That's a confusing distinction to make but he can't quite place why. He yawns again, so hard his jaw cracks. "So you'll stay here, with me?"

Well.

He ponders it for a moment. That seems okay, right? That seems fine. He's not sure why he was going to work when he could have just stayed with Yeosang this whole time. He laughs, and Yeosang laughs too once he tells him why he's laughing.

They wave goodbye to a snickering Seonghwa and wander to the elevator.

"Exactly." Yeosang agrees, "you can just stay here with me, you don't need any money at all."

I don't need any money? The euphoria of that thought sinks away slowly, like it's being drained out of him. Fatigue weighs his limbs and he apologises as he manages to stumble over his own feet, feeling drunk from exhaustion. Yeosang, on the other hand, looks like he could stay up all night. His eyes are bright and his cheeks are blushing a rosy red. He looks filled with energy.

"Sorry," Wooyoung mumbles, as they stagger out of the elevator and towards Yeosang's rooms. "I guess my shift was too long and you're so awake. I guess I'll have more energy tomorrow after a big sleep."

"That's the plan." Yeosang agrees, holding him close as they walk, fingers skirting the bare skin under Wooyoung's borrowed shirt. "More energy tomorrow."

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> (Jung Hoseok is my ultimate bias, so no offense to him being the bad guy here today)


End file.
